Atletico Madrid 0-0 Celta Vigo: 3 Players who were impressive for the Los Rojiblancos and 2 who weren't | La Liga 2019/20

#4 Joao Felix – Poor

Felix endured a tough evening

Through the off-season, there was palpable excitement around the Wanda Metropolitano regarding the acquisition of Joao Felix. The Portuguese had produced some marvellous numbers for Benfica in 2018-19 and seemed the brightest offensive teenage talent across the globe.

The forward started in similar vein too at Atletico, shining in his early displays for the club, thereby hinting at providing an immediate replacement for Antoine Griezmann.

However, over the course of the past fortnight, the Portuguese hasn’t enjoyed the best of fortunes, meaning that some of the furore has died down, just a touch.

After an unconvincing performance against Juventus in mid-week, the teenager produced another unspectacular display at the Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday.

Though he started effervescently against Celta, he fizzled out quite briskly and started drifting out of the game. Thereafter, he was never really able to influence proceedings and was hooked off as Diego Simeone introduced Alvaro Morata.

The link-up between Diego Costa and Felix also looked surprisingly disjointed, considering the telepathic understanding they showcased at the start of the season.

Moreover, the Portuguese, failed to get on the ball in dangerous areas and was reduced to square passes in front of the defence and while there was the odd moment of brilliance, Felix fell quite short of the enormous standards he has already set for himself.

However, encouragingly for Atletico, the teenager is still young and has enough time to mature into a better footballer.

Though they might’ve hoped for him to have hit the ground running, the string of uninspiring displays would only bolster his abilities, further down the line.